More light shows likely to hit Southern skies this weekend

Victorians who missed the spectacular display of the southern lights on Friday morning will still have a chance to catch a glimpse of the aurora over the weekend.

Aurora australis lit up Victorian skies on Friday. Picture: Supplied

Victorians who missed the spectacular aurora display on Friday morning will still have a chance to catch a glimpse of the light show over the weekend.

Early risers were treated to the stunning display, as aurora australis lit up skies across the state on Friday morning.

Monash University astronomer Associate Professor Michael Brown said the aurora might be visible again on Friday night and into the weekend.

“There’s a chance it will persist into tonight. And there might be more aurora seen on the weekend,” he said.

“But aurora can be really unpredictable and fickle. So one thing that I find particularly useful is social media accounts, including on Facebook, for aurora spotting.”

Early risers were treated to the stunning display. Picture: Supplied

Associate Professor Brown said the aurora could be visible again on Friday night and into the weekend. Picture: Supplied

Associate Professor Brown said when looking for aurora, it’s best to get away from as many lights as possible, and have a clear view to the south.

“Quite often when a really spectacular aurora is going off people have got good views from Bayside beaches, where they’ve got a clear, dark view to the south,” he said.

He said aurora is caused by an eruption of particles from the sun, which interact with the earth’s magnetic field and get driven towards the north and south magnetic poles.

“When these particles hit the upper atmosphere at the very edge of space, they produce these spectacular colours that we see as aurora,” he said.

“There’s aurora borealis, which is in the northern hemisphere, and aurora australis, which is in the southern hemisphere.”

The different colours seen in aurora, Associate Professor Brown said, is to do with the earth’s atmosphere and composition.

The different colours seen in aurora is to do with the earth’s atmosphere and composition. Picture: Supplied

“You get the green colours at lower altitudes and the pink, red colours at higher altitudes,” he said.

“So the Tasmanians, who are closer to the polls, tend to see a bit more green, whereas this morning in Melbourne, I was mainly just seeing the reds, but it was still bloody awesome.”

He said there have been more aurora sightings than usual this year, due to the sun being at a very active part in its 11 year cycle.

“The sun operated roughly in roughly 11 year cycles. So it has a peak in activity, has a lull in activity, and some cycles are a bit more active than others,” he said.

“This particular cycle is a bit more active than some of the previous ones. So we’re getting to see some of the best aurora we’ve seen for a couple of decades.”

Originally published as More light shows likely to hit Southern skies this weekend